Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Insider Cynthia Tregillis Sells 6,780 Shares

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 6,780 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $1,833,922.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,932,163.62. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $282.58 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $296.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $205.35 and its 200 day moving average is $143.80.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. Western Digital’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 5.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Bank of America increased their price target on Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, New Street Research set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Board approved an incremental $4 billion share-repurchase program — a large, explicit capital-return move that supports demand for the stock and signals confidence from the board. Reuters: Western Digital adds $4 billion to buyback plan
• Positive Sentiment: Innovation Day unveiled an AI-focused storage roadmap (claims of up to 8x performance improvements and path to 100TB+ HDDs), reinforcing WDC’s positioning in AI training/data-center storage — supports longer-term demand expectations. PCWorld: WD maps out 8x performance boosts
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst community is upgrading WDC and lifting targets (several notes to Buy/Overweight and new street-high targets), which fuels short-term momentum and buy-side interest. Barchart: New street-high price target
• Positive Sentiment: Recent quarterly results beat estimates (revenue and EPS strength) and reinforce the “memory supercycle” / AI-driven storage demand thesis — supports earnings growth expectations. Zacks: WDC is up 5.85% in one week
• Neutral Sentiment: Sandisk’s dramatic rally (spun out from WDC) is lifting sentiment across the memory/storage complex — helpful for WDC thematically but also highlights increased sector volatility and comparatives. MarketBeat: Sandisk’s Swings Are Getting Bigger
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader policy moves to secure supply chains for critical minerals are supportive over the long run for domestic hardware supply, but they are not an immediate stock catalyst. MarketBeat: Critical minerals policy
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares (~$5.1M) in early February (SEC filing) — an insider sale that can prompt some near-term profit-taking despite his continued large ownership. SEC filing: Insider sale disclosure

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 369 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.8% during the third quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,329 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,120,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.1% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.